On the heels of a new Local Coastal Plan certification, the city is now engaged in a series of workshops to scrutinize the Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement and its Environmental Impact Report.
By Sylvie Belmond/Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu Bay Company representatives presented a quick overview of its development agreement for property owned by the company in the Civic Center, Point Dume and Trancas Canyon areas.
It took more than 10 years for Malibu Bay Company (MBC) and the city to draft the agreement.
“It was a time-consuming and voluminous process,” David Resnick, spokesperson for MBC said.
The project goes back to the early 1990s, when MBC introduced an application to develop the Chili Cook-off site at the Civic Center.
The company was then asked to withdraw its application to work on a specific plan with other landowners in the area.
In 1998, MBC placed another application to develop two parcels in the Civic Center, but it was withdrawn once more after the city asked MBC to discuss a development agreement that would incorporate all 12 properties the company owns in Malibu.
At the workshop, MBC representatives quickly highlighted their plans for each of the 12 properties, totaling 110.71 acres, noting that a large number of acres will be deed-restricted as open space.
The Ioki parcel, north of Civic Center Way, would be home to 85,000 square feet of offices and some limited retail in a garden-like setting.
The Saint John’s parcel, where the urgent care center currently exists, would be redeveloped to suit medical offices and related facilities. This change may benefit the urgent care center as its functions may be expanded.
The Winter Canyon property across the street from Webster Elementary School will not be developed, as MBC will continue to use that site for the disposal of tertiary water.
The Knoll Parcel, south of Pacific Coast Highway and east of Bluffs Park, will remain vacant land.
The Smith parcel, west of Webb Way and north of PCH, will also be deed restricted as open space because it includes 2 acres of wetland.
The Island parcel, just west of Webb Way, will remain vacant for at least 10 years, as dictated by the agreement, but it may accommodate up to 12,055 square feet of commercial development in the future.
Finally, the largest MBC property in the Civic Center, the Chili Cook-off parcel, will also remain undeveloped for at least 10 years, but commercial buildings would be permitted in the future.
MBC was pleased to highlight the donation of a 19-acre Point Dume property to the city, along with $5 million to construct a community senior/teen center and sports fields. Aside from a nearby stream that needs to be protected, that property is unaffected by the new Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area guidelines.
MBC also owns four properties in Trancas and plans to build some residential homes, increase the Trancas commercial center and preserve a sycamore grove in that area. MBC also wants to build five single-family dwellings on a beach lot and construct two family homes with equestrian trails on the former Riders and Ropers site, east of the existing commercial center.
According to a traffic study in the Environmental Impact Report, every conceivable future project in the city was taken into consideration when the development plans were made. The current proposal reduces commercial development on MBC properties in Malibu from 629,867 square feet to 289,995 square feet.
The workshop last week was the first of three public workshops that will uncover the results of the EIR and allow the public to give feedback on this commercial development project. The next public comment workshop will take place on Oct. 17.
Once these workshops are completed in November, the matter will move on to the Planning Commission for review. The commission will then make recommendations to the City Council, which will hold several hearings about the agreement before it decides whether it should certify the EIR and approve the agreement.
Finally, the development agreement will be subject to a citywide vote, as required by Measure N, which passed in November 2000, that allows residents to vote on the proposed MBC development agreement and on all future development agreements larger than 30 acres.
But despite the sizable projects proposed, last week’s workshop was not well attended and yielded few comments.
Sandra Genis, a land planner for Planning Resources in Costa Mesa, came on behalf of some residents who are now considering their options to make sure the EIR is thorough and fully available to the public. She noted that copies at Mail Boxes Etc were incomplete.
One Trancas resident brought up the issue of rooftop esthetics and the council agreed that it’s a valid concern. It directed MBC to ensure that rooftops are built with view-sheds in mind.
Ozzie Silna wanted to know how the new Local Coastal Plan and the EIR work together, and he questioned the length of the public comment period allotted, asking why the city is moving forward so quickly.
Planning Director Drew Purvis indicated that city staff on Oct. 17 will know how, if at all, the LCP impacts the MBC projects.
In a later interview, Silna said he was astonished that so few people came to the workshop. However, he is only concerned with the bottom line.
“Not that we should not have any development,” he said, “but how much development is too much?”
He said the MBC EIR is only the beginning and another half-dozen commercial landowners in the Civic Center will follow suit.
“All of them dealing with whatever development rights they may have makes it scary,” he said, because it could be a million square feet of development. “That will change Malibu and we may develop ourselves out of being what we are.”
However, other speakers voiced their support for the projects because they wanted to see new ball fields and a new community center take shape as soon as possible.